Hey folks, Harry here with that gangster Capone who has stolen a look at Naomi (pant pant pant) Watts in the remake of THE RING. Personally I loathe everyone that has been watching this. Especially Moriarty, but that goes without saying. Oh well, soon enough I suppose. Nice to hear that Capone dug the movie as well.... Here ya go...
Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago here with a look at one of the few films this fall that I've actually been looking forward to. While I have your attention, I should make note that the schedule for the 38th Chicago International Film Festival has just been released, and it's a hell of a line up: AUTO FOCUS, PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE, EVELYN (with Pierce Brosnan), BLOODY SUNDAY, FRIDA, Mike Leigh's ALL OR NOTHING, JUST A KISS with Marisa Tomei, Michael Moore's BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, LOST IN LA MANCHA, Eric LaSalle's CRAZY AS HELL, PERSONAL VELOCITY, ROGER DODGER, Phillip Noyce's RABBIT-PROOF FENCE, WELCOME TO COLLINWOOD, Miike's THE HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS, and dozens more. It runs Oct. 4-17, and my reports will be fast and furious (and lengthy). Here's THE RING, which opens right after the Festival on Oct. 18.
For those of you who know the history of THE RING, skip this paragraph. In 1998, a Japanese film called RINGU (RING) was released in Japan, and it scared the hell out of everybody who saw it. It also sparked a sequel (RING 2), a prequel (RING 0), and at least two shot-for-shot remakes that I'm aware of in other Asian countries. RINGU became one of the most successful films ever released in Japan and it became the stuff of legend in the rest of the world. I've been reading about RING for roughly two years now, and just last month I finally acquired a copy of the original and watched it last week. The film is about a video tape that kills its watchers exactly one week to the minute after they view it. Unintentionally, I watched the American remake, THE RING, exactly one week to the hour after I screened the original. And I survived.
Both films are wonderful and thrilling exercises in atmosphere, uspense, and good old-fashioned creepiness. Both manage to feature some of the scariest images and scenes I've seen in quite a while while still managing to maintain largely bloodless, sexless, gore-less, and profanity-free PG-13 content (think THE OTHERS but with a much meaner streak). On the other hand, both feature lengthy mid-sections where not a lot happens and slightly unbelievable moments of investigative journalism that are more dumb luck than solid reporting. In the U.S. version, Australian newcomer Naomi Watts (the blonde from MULHOLLAND DRIVE) plays a reporter whose niece is dies mysteriously one week after viewing a video tape. Some believe the tape is an urban legend, but her high school friends think otherwise since everyone else who watched the tape with the niece died not only on the same day but at the exact same time.
I'm not ruining a single thing by telling you that the contents of the video tape are no secret to us. Watts easily locates the tape at a run-down resort where the high schoolers found and viewed the tape a week earlier, and she immediately pops the sucker in and watches it. About 15 minutes into THE RING she (and we) watch the entire tape. So what's on the tape? It's tough to explain: imagine a Nine Inch Nails video without the music and you've got a pretty good idea. The tape ends, the phone rings, and a small menacing voice says, "Seven days." Gulp!
A day later, Watts enlists the help of her baby's daddy (XX), who watches the tape also. Yes, most of the people in this film are a little dense about the power of the tape. And the two spend what could be the last week of Watts' life picking apart the images on the tape to unravel the mystery of where it came from and what they can do to keep it from fulfilling its death mission. Without giving away the big mystery, I will say that THE RING does a great job of providing a satisfying explanation about the tape's origins. There's actually an emotional component to the movie involving children. When Watts' young son watches the tape several days into her death sentence, the ticking of the clock seems to increase exponentially. And the filmmakers do a great job recreating some of the original's visual scares. For those who have seen the original, the scene toward the end with the T.V. and the ex-husband/boyfriend is almost as scary in the U.S. version. And I'll even go so far as to say that the actual video tape images are more nerve-racking in this latest version than in the original.
There are a few significant changes made to the script in the U.S. version. The small but pivotal character of the reporter's father is absent from THE RING. And there's a strange but ultimately worthwhile angle in the U.S. story about a horse farm that will surprise fans of the Japanese version. But the key elements are intact and just as or more effective here. THE RING was never meant to be a scream-a-minute horror film. It's a gradual and purposeful gothic tale about parents trying to save their child from certain death by supernatural forces. It's not the best scare film I've ever seen; it's not even in the Top 10. I thought THE OTHERS was better, but only by a little. THE RING is solid filmmaking and certainly ranks this year as the movie that is guaranteed to make your skin ripple more than once.
Capone
